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Playoffs Loom For WW Teams

With the OIA Red and White races winding down, playoff berths and post-sea- son seedings are still in the balance. A look at this weekend’s Windward games follows.

Farrington at Kailua — 7 p.m. Friday (OC16 – channel 12) For the Surfriders, this might be the perfect time to catch the Govs as they will be coming off of a huge matchup with Kahuku the past weekend, a game that had Red East title implications. Kailua took a two- game win streak into last weekend’s game with McKinley (which also was a very winnable game) and can improve its playoff seeding with a win here. Kailua’s greater challenge will likely be to possess the ball on offense to keep Farrington’s own power-run game off of the field. That task could fall largely to running backs Jarrin Young, Fredrick Welch and Kekoa Ford, all of whom are working on solid seasons. Young has averaged 7.7 yards per carry and already had seven rushing touchdowns to his credit heading into last weekend. Welch and Ford are averaging 4.5 and 3.9 yards per attempt, respectively. Kailua quarterback Kahaku Iaea also is looking for a strong finish to what has been a solid prep career.

Kahuku at Moanalua — 6 p.m. Saturday Is there a better 4-3 team in the state than Moanalua? Not likely. It was the OIA’s for- gotten team with non-league losses to Mililani and Waianae out of the gate in 2012, but both of those teams are working on solid seasons of their own in the Red West, making those defeats look far more under- standable in week eight. This is the perfect trap game for Kahuku, which will need to have a lot left in the tank following the emotional game with the Governors to avoid an upset here.

Regardless of the outcome of the Kahuku-Farrington game, a No. 1 or 2 seed for the OIA playoffs — and the all-important first- round bye — are on the line here. Kahuku’s forte continues to be its ability to stop the run on defense and pile up the yards on the ground on offense, and it will need to do both well in this matchups.

Running backs Aofaga Wily (7.6 yards per carry, 12 TDs) and Polikapu Liua (8.6 ypc, two TDs) have provided much of the offense with the help of the team’s stellar O line. Defensively, Kahuku is yielding only 6.6 points a game and only 35 yards per outing on the ground.

Anuenue versus Kalaheo — 6 p.m. Saturday at Kailua High School For the Mustangs, their last two games — this week versus Anuenue and next weekend against Roosevelt — represent “the season within the season” as it needs to finish first or second among East schools’ in the OIA White to move on to the post-season.

The good news is that Kalaheo’s run defense has been the strength on that side of the ball, while Anuenue’s strong suit on offense has been its run game.

Castle at McKinley — 6 p.m. Saturday at Roosevelt High School The Knights’ defense has hung tough despite being on the losing end of all of their games (as of last weekend), as they are giving up only 140 yard per game on the ground and just under 300 total yards per outing. Much of Castle’s struggles have come from its lack of depth and a youthful offense that has left the defense on the field too long. If they can score and possess the ball more, there’s a chance here, as McKinley found itself in the midst of a three-game losing streak, heading into last weekend.

Castle’s offense will look to quarterback Kela Shea and receivers Kyle Urasaki and Makana Bee to make plays, meanwhile.